A student unloads Bacchus grapes into the crusher at the wine department of Plumpton College. [Photo/Agencies]

It's not Rioja

"We shouldn't kid ourselves, Britain is not about to become the Rioja," says Lecourt, referring to the region known for Spain's most famous wine. "We are talking about a temperature increase of between 0 C and 2 C by 2038."

As for commercial production further to the north, it doesn't look likely.

"You could go and grow a vineyard in Greenland or Iceland if you wanted to, but that's different from having commercial production," says Nesbitt.

"If you're talking about serious production, you've got to draw a line in the middle of England."

And the little industry still has far to go, covering just 2,000 hectares of planted vines at present.

"The vineyard acreage in the UK at the moment is a bit higher than Tasmania," Nesbitt says. "It's beautiful but it's small. It can grow and it will grow significantly."

Meanwhile, in the face of similar ambitions in Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, England has managed to make the most progress, according to Lecourt, who notes that there is an ancient English tradition of winemaking.

"We must not forget that the Romans planted vines here," Lecourt says.

"When Aquitaine was under English rule, the English were involved with the explosion of winemaking there," he says, referring to a region of France.